The Funeral
by LadyRedgraveDMC
Summary: Eight year old Dante sits through the funeral for his mother and brother. Then years later he finds himself at his family graves once more.
1. The Funeral

Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry or any of the characters from it.

The small snowy-haired boy stood by the doors of the mortuary as the people filed in and began to fill up the seats. They all gave him sad looks as they passed, but he didn't see any of them. He didn't want to see any of what was going on around him. He just wanted to be at home playing his video games or messing around with the toy swords in the backyard.

Someone approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see his aunt. "Dante," She said. "Come on, we need to go sit down."

Dante looked down at the ground as he walked with his aunt to the very front bench. He didn't look up at the caskets that were lying on the table. He didn't look at the pictures that were placed in various places by the caskets. If he looked up, he was going to cry and what would they say about him crying? He was a big boy now and there was no time to cry.

The minister began his speech, but Dante wasn't listening. He couldn't hear anything over the memory of why he was here replaying over and over in his head. It was entirely his fault. He should have protected her. It's what his father would have done. It's what Vergil tried to do.

'But look where it got Vergil,' Dante thought to himself. His brother, his own twin brother was as dead as their mother and father.

Dante didn't look up once during the entire service. He didn't want to see the sad, sympathetic looks given to him by his family members and friends of the family. Not that there were many. He didn't even know his mother had a sister until the police had called her to take care of him, even if only for a little while.

A few people took turns speaking about Eva and their fondest memories of her. His aunt stood up and shared a few childhood memories. It sort of shocked Dante to think that his mother had been as rambunctious as he was. No one could say anything about Vergil. No one had seen Eva for nearly a decade, meaning that no one had even known about her kids.

His aunt looked down at him and gently shook his shoulder. "Dante, do you want to say anything about your mother or your brother?"

Dante shook his head. He wasn't going to speak. There was nothing he could say. There were no stories to share except for how his mother and brother had died trying to protect one another and how he had been such a scaredy-cat and hid in that crevice in the wall. And he didn't want to ever tell anyone what had happened.

The service concluded after the few people were done sharing their memories. People began to get into their cars to drive to the cemetery where the family plot was. Dante only spared his father's gravestone a single glance as they walked by it to stand near the two new gravestones. He was partly angry at his father for having died only two years earlier. Sparda had gone off and gotten himself killed, leaving Eva alone to protect the boys. He should have been alive to protect her.

The caskets were lowered into the ground and the mourners each grabbed a handful of dirt to throw on each coffin. A confused look crossed his face as he heard the difference in the sound of the dirt hitting the caskets. It was then he learned that his brother's was empty. They hadn't found Vergil's body. They had just found a lot of blood, hair, shreds of clothing, and Yamato on the back porch.

Dante flinched at each thud of dirt on one of the coffins. The sound resounded in his head over and over as he stared at his feet. Then he heard a different noise. It was a rapid little pattering sound. He felt the rain start pouring down on them. The sound of umbrellas opening blocked out the sound of the rain for a moment.

"Dante," His aunt crouched down in front of him. "Let's go to the car."

He shook his head.

She pulled him into a hug. "Okay then, sweetie. We'll be in the car. We'll wait until you're ready. Do you want an umbrella?"

Dante shook his head again. He heard his aunt walk away and he just stood there in the rain. He stood there while a couple of men shoveled dirt on to the coffins and soon they left, having finished their job.

He looked up at the gravestones. The bigger one read _Eva Redgrave, Loving Mother and Wife. _ The smaller one said _Vergil Redgrave, Treasured Brother and Son._ Dante clenched his fists as his anger flared up. Who were they to leave him here all alone? Who did they think they were going on and being a family somewhere else without him? They couldn't be happy together in the afterlife! It wasn't fair! They should never have left him behind. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair!

The tears began to fall and he couldn't stop them. But as he stood there out in the pouring rain, no one could tell he was crying except for maybe the slight red tint to his nose. Finally, his aunt came to take him to the car, promising that she'd bring him back whenever he wanted.

"I don't ever want to come back."


	2. Acceptance

It was nearly twenty some-odd years later that Dante found himself standing in front of the graves again. "You know, Mom, I never wanted to come back," He found himself speaking as he sat in front of Eva's grave. "I hated you guys for a long time. I hated that you left me all alone without you in a world that I felt I had no part in. I thought that you all were happy in the afterlife without me. You and Pop and Verge were all together and happy in my mind for all those years and I loathed you guys for it."

He put the red rose he had been spinning in his fingers on the top of her grave. Then Dante gave a grim chuckle. "Then Verge showed up out of nowhere. He'd been alive all those years. And he was an evil ass too, Mom. I think what happened that day scarred him mentally and emotionally. I think it drove him a little bit nuts. I know that he never wanted to be weak again. He wanted to be strong enough and powerful enough to protect what he cared about. Then he went to Hell. He took Pop's sword and went to Hell."

Dante could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. "I thought that maybe I could go back and save him. But I had to kill him almost ten years later." He glanced at Vergil's grave. "Sorry, bro. I had to do it and I think you're in a better place now."

He got to his feet. "And for a while, I hated you guys all over again. But I know one day I'll be with you again and we can be a family. Thinking that way keeps me sane and happy inside." He wiped away the tears that had started to spill. "I miss you all. I love you all too."


End file.
